Laboratory tests
Most transplant patients have regular blood, urine, or other lab tests. Some things are tested include:
- A patient's blood cell count, to show any possible infection or side effects from transplant medications
- The level of waste products, such as creatinine and blood urea nitrogen, to show how well patient's kidneys and liver are working
- "Levels", which is short for how much immunosuppresant medication stays in a patient's bloodstream and for how long (high level could be toxic or suppress the immune system too much and low levels may cause a patient to reject the new kidney)
- Urine analysis and culture to make sure there are no signs of urinary infection and to check for protein in the urine which can be abnormal
- The amount of glucose (sugar), or lipids (cholesterol and other fats) in the blood (some transplant medications can make them too high)
- Signs of any recent viral infections
- The level of HLA antibodies in the blood, to check if the body might start to reject the donor kidney
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